Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Unfortunately Rosario is on the back
burner. He never showed up for our lesson and he hasn't contacted us since to
tell us why so... We're going to wait until he's ready.

Lorenzo has gotten all the way to
Mormon chapter 7!!! Well, that was the last time we checked two days ago. He
may have finished by now. We talked to him about the Plan of Salvation and the
nature of God. Before we left we invited him to pray to know if the Book of
Mormon is true and promised him he would get an answer. He said he would
definitely do that. I'm intrigued to see what he'll have to say to us the next
time we visit him...

Our friend Davide who works at the
pharmacy was honest with us and said he's not looking to join another church
but he likes learning about ours and comparing beliefs. We did teach him the
Plan of Salvation and he was fascinated by it (he agrees with just about
everything we teach) so that's still planting seeds!!

We accidentally met the 21-year-old
daughter of a Brazilian shop owner that we're friends with this week. :) Her
name is Valeria and she was visiting from Spain, where she works in the cabin
crew for an airline. She speaks amazing English and some Spanish and like two
other languages and she's really smart! She asked us about our missions and we
taught her a condensed version of the Restoration and left her a pamphlet. We
also explained the government of the church. She thought that was way cool.
We're sad that she's going back... She would have been a fantastic person to
teach!

We weren't able to see Pina but she
called us this morning to tell us why she's been busy and said we can see each
other next week. Hooray!!

Caterina and Marina are super busy
with the shop they work at but we found out that they know two of the members
in Ragusa!!!! One of them owns the shop and the other is our ward mission
leader. Yeeeehaw. :)

Last but not least is Tina. She's
actually the wife of Mario, an investigator that the anziani have been teaching
for a few years now. We met with their whole family (they have five kids, four
of which came to the lesson!) and made spaghetti with sauce for them. They were
touched. :) We taught them the Plan of Salvation by drawing with colored chalk
on a sheet, kind of like a mostra. We had a member at the lesson so she was
able to intervene and help us teach. Tina was really friendly and we set up
another appointment with their family for this Saturday! The anziani have
really felt like we needed to work with Mario's wife so we have high hopes for
this family. They're really special. :)

As you can see, the work is moving
along... We're visiting some members this week and we have a scambio planned
with the STLs in Siracusa this Thursday, which I'm crazy stoked for because I
have never been to Siracusa and I love meeting other people's investigators.
:D

Today when we were buying groceries
the guy working at the register asked Sorella Reber if she was American and
then explained that he asked because our English sounds different from British
English. She asked him if he speaks it and he said a little bit... because he's
a RUGBY REFEREE. I said, "No WAY that's so cool! I played rugby in
college!!" He asked me where so I told him how I live in the States and he
asked me what position I played and it was just sooooooooo AWESOME. He wants to
come to English Course so maybe if he comes he can teach me the names of all
the positions in Italian. Woooo!!!!

There's some kind of unique
brotherhood you feel when you meet someone who plays the same sport as you.
Love it. Love it like crazy.

Sorella Reber and I have been
thinking about something lately. We were reading the history of the Church in
Italy this morning and thinking about how much it has grown in the last century
and a half, which then got us thinking about the temple that is now under
construction in Rome. For a long time now members have been pretty down about
how long it's been taking to finish it. It was announced in 2008 and was
supposed to be completed in late 2014 but obviously that didn't happen. And a
lot of members have been asking themselves why. When Sorella Reber was in Rome
some leaders spoke to the members there and expressly said, "The reason
why the temple is taking so long to be finished is because we are not ready. We
do not have enough faith." When Sorella Reber told me this it struck me
pretty hard. Are we really doing everything we possibly can to grow the Lord's
kingdom in Italy? Are we sharing the gospel with our friends and family
members? Are we growing our testimonies or letting them run dry? As
missionaries, we have a solemn responsibility to help the members rekindle the
flame of their faith. Because if their faith is strong, the Lord will help them
bring their loved ones into the church. But when we start to doubt and get
discouraged, the Lord withdraws His hand and waits until we are ready. We can't
have that. If that's the kind of attitude we have, the temple might take years
to build. We have to build a nation that will be prepared for the temple and will
bring hundreds of thousands of people to its doors. That doesn't happen if
members and missionaries don't work hard -- together! So let's just say that
our determination has been renewed. I love this line from one of the songs in
the movie The Prince of Egypt: "There can be miracles when you
believe." It is 100% truth. And I bear witness of that.

President Gordon B. Hinckley once
said, "The Church has become one large family scattered across the earth
[...] A marvelous and wonderful thing is coming to pass. The Lord is fulfilling
His promise that His gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountain
without hands which would roll forth and fill the whole earth, as Daniel saw in
vision. A great miracle is taking place right before our eyes."

The Lord's work will go on with or
without us. What an honor it is to be one of His allies here in Ragusa. I love
this work with all my heart!